Bruins 6, Flyers 3: Bruised but victorious

Tuesday

Nov 27, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 27, 2007 at 4:26 PM

PHILADELPHIA - The Boston Bruins chose the high road and it paid off with a victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Glen Murray scored two goals and Marc Savard added a goal and three assists to help the Bruins beat the Flyers 6-3 last night.

The Boston Bruins chose the high road and it paid off with a victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Glen Murray scored two goals and Marc Savard added a goal and three assists to help the Bruins beat the Flyers 6-3 last night.

The game was the first between the two teams since Philadelphia's Randy Jones was suspended for two games after checking the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron hard into the boards during the Flyers' 2-1 win at Boston on Oct. 27. Bergeron remains on injured reserve with a severe concussion.

Murray said that the Bruins had no intention of retaliating.

"It's unfortunate it happened and obviously we don't have Bergy back," Murray said. "But we were focused on making sure we came back after our loss on the Island and getting two points because there's a lot of teams winning and we don't want to get behind the eight ball and we want to keep climbing in the standings."

Glen Metropolit, Peter Schaefer and Chuck Kobasew also scored for the Bruins, who built leads of 4-0 and 5-2. Boston bounced back from a 2-1 loss at the New York Islanders last Saturday to win for the fifth time in seven games.

"We said right from the get-go that we were coming here to win the hockey game," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We weren't coming here to deal with that (Jones) situation. Obviously we're trying to create some more offense for this hockey club and slowly but surely getting there.

"Hopefully we can combine a good defensive effort with some goal scoring as well."

There were no incidents involving Jones, but Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell was given a 5-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct for hitting defenseman Andrew Alberts at 14:22 of the second period. Andrews left the game with an unspecified head injury and will be evaluated today.

Boston's Zdeno Chara said that his team decided not to retaliate after Alberts was injured.

"It's something we talked about," Chara said. "We probably ended up with some bruises, but we have two points and that's the most important thing right now. It's up to the league to address things like that."

Hartnell said that the hit on Alberts was not deliberate.

"I did not try to hurt him," Hartnell explained. "There was no intent at all. I am not that type of player. If you look at all the games this year and past years, I finish my checks every time I have an opportunity."

Mike Knuble, Mike Richards and Scottie Upshall scored power-play goals for the Flyers, who were coming off a 4-3 victory at Ottawa on Saturday.

Boston rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask had 20 saves to pick up his second win in two starts.

Savard, who extended his points streak to seven games (two goals, 11 assists), figured in both Boston goals in the first period. First, he swept the puck away from Richards behind the net and feathered a pass to Murray, who flipped in a wrist shot from the point at 4:06.

Then at 7:34, Savard launched a slap shot from the right circle that deflected off Jones' stick and high over Flyers goalie Marty Biron's glove into the goal.

Murray made it 3-0 with a wrist shot from the right circle at 1:43 of the second period. Biron was replaced by Antero Niittymaki 1:59 later after allowing three goals on 14 shots.

After Metropolit scored at 7:35 of the period, the Flyers came back with goals by Knuble and Richards within a span of 2:25. Schaeffer then hammered in a rebound at 13:39 to put the Bruins ahead 5-2.

Upshall snapped in a shot from the right circle at 4:02 of the third period to pull the Flyers within two goals, but Kobasew scored into an empty net with 6 seconds left.

"I don't know if emotionally we are ready to be a consistent hockey team," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "We just don't emotionally get revved up every game, it doesn't matter who our opponent is."

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